Portable computer devices are increasingly more common and mobile, such as laptop computers, tablet PCs, ultra-mobile PCs, as well as other mobile data, messaging, and/or communication devices. Portable devices, however, are susceptible to environmental conditions and may not be usable in a car or outdoors due to bright sunlight or a dark environment. User interfaces are typically optimized for display on various devices in an indoor environment where lighting can be controlled. Computer graphics and imaging has become more complex, allowing for smaller text, subtle details, and more visual features that can be obscured or imperceptible on the display of a portable device in bright sunlight, or that may be distracting in a dark environment.
Some devices may include a display brightness adjustment for ambient lighting conditions. Typically, a screen display can be adjusted brighter to compensate for bright or high ambient light, or the screen display can be adjusted darker to compensate for low ambient light so that the display is not so glaringly bright. In some device implementations, the display brightness can be adjusted manually by a user of the device, and in other implementations, an ambient light sensor can be utilized to automatically adjust the display brightness. However, adjusting the display brightness only changes the entire display from a low contrast display to a higher contrast display, and vice-versa. Particular elements and/or features of a user interface may still be obscured or imperceptible, such as in bright sunlight even if the display brightness can be adjusted.